As we slowly come to terms that Christmas and the party season is coming to an end and life returns to normal, we can however be excited at the thought of Euro 2016 only six months away.
Ireland achieved what many regarded as the impossible and have booked their seats on the plane to France along with Northern Ireland, England and Wales which will bring a special atmosphere to the tournament, not just for those going but for us at home.
Nobody celebrates their country taking part in a major tournament more than we do. For this reason alone we can all look forward to a brilliant summer ahead, win lose or draw. The excitement will start to build, bunting will be out, flags will be hanging out the windows, cars will be decked out in miniature flags, pints will be drank in beer gardens across the country (weather permitting) and maybe even the odd house will be painted green white and gold. Memories of Euro '88, Italia '90, USA '94, Japan & Korea 2002 and Euro 2012 are all glorious memories we have of our nation taking part on the world stage be it a World or European competition we all feel a sense of pride in our country representing us and many nations feel we bring a special atmosphere to the competition when we take part.
Martin O'Neill has a busy few months ahead and as we learned from previous campaigns preparation on and off the field is key to success. Maybe having Roy Keane as O'Neill's assistant will be useful in this case with no chance of another Saipan incident. While we rightly are not considered favourites to even get out of the group let alone win the tournament we should go there with the intention to take part and ruffle a few feathers along the way. The partying will be done by the many thousands of Irish fans that will be renovating the old camper vans and planning the summer of all summers in the coming months. O'Neill needs to go there with the same attitude that we are there because we deserve to be there and not just to make up the numbers.
While the draw was not kind to us we will face teams in Italy, Belgium and Sweden, teams we we can be sure will not relish facing us. Kicking off in Paris on June 13th we can be sure of a huge Irish support as always with perhaps the least difficult game up first we could start to dream with a win in the first game and then facing the Belgians on June 18 with Italy up last on June 22. If we could manage an early win anything is possible against the Belgian's of whom a lot is expected and the Italian's as history suggests can be hit or miss but both remain a threat and will be high in the betting for the eventual champions.
Both O'Niell and Keane will be busy attending games across the UK as they assemble their squad for the tournament. Friendly games in the Aviva against Switzerland, Slovakia and the Netherlands in March and May will gives those who are on the fringes of the squad a chance to make one last push for a seat on that plane to France. In reality O'Neill will and should remain faithful to those that got him there and our National pool of talent is not so deep that many players will be panicking at the thoughts of being left out. Players like Cyrus Christie and Jeff Hendrick proved useful to Ireland in the qualifying campaign and with youth on their side they should be selected as they will hopefully be part of our future campaigns also.
At the other end of the scale there have been questions raised over the possible omission of both Robbie Keane and Shay Given from the squad. This in my opinion would be a travesty to two Republic of Ireland legends and two players who have represented Ireland on the biggest stage of all at a World Cup Finals. Where would we be without either of them? While the may see little action this summer their experience alone with over 200 caps between them should see them book their seats in that plane. They along with John O'Shea are the senior figures in the team and they can be a huge asset to our team. When you look at the Stephen Ireland situation and the lack of interest he has shown in representing his country, both Keane and Given have done so with pride and they deserve the honour of doing so again on the European stage in what will more than likely be their final tournament in the green of Ireland. Keane has by passed the likes of Brazil's Ronaldo, Sweden's Ibrahimovic and England's Wayne Rooney in the International goal scorers list, an amazing achievement for a player representing such a small nation compared with others on the list way below him. While Keane may not start many games for Ireland he will be an asset to us from the bench this summer, let alone he is our captain.
So as the preparations are well under way O'Neill should go into the tournament with the intention to give players such as Wes Hoolahan and Shane Long the freedom to express themselves and give ourselves every chance to succeed. O'Neill has gained criticism in the past for being too tactical and not trusting his more adventurous players. While we as fans enjoyed Euro 2012 with the excitement of being there it was a largely forgettable experience in many ways thanks to Trapattoni and his negatives tactics. O'Neill needs to learn from this and take encouragement from the way we went about beating the World Champions Germany last October which proved to be a major win in the group to get us to France. O'Neill has to place more trust in his players and loosen the strings of which he has held tightly over them since his appointment as Ireland boss. If he does Euro 2016 will be added to the list of the tournaments held fondly in the memory of Irish fans. If not he will join Trapattoni on the other side.
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